Plenary Session Speakers

Effective August 11, 2008, Margaret Jenny assumed the position of President of RTCA, Inc., a private, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the development of consensus-based recommendations regarding aviation issues related to communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management (CNS/ATM) systems. RTCA functions as a federal advisory committee.

Immediately prior to her acceptance of this position, Ms. Jenny served as Chief Executive Officer of MJF Strategies, LLC., a consulting firm specializing in technical, operational and political solutions to the most important challenges facing executives in the transportation, aviation, and other high tech industries.

Prior to forming MJF Strategies in 2001, Ms. Jenny was Vice President of Corporate Business Development at ARINC where she led Corporate Strategy, Alliances and Acquisitions, Congressional and Government Affairs, new business initiative planning, and Customer Resource Management.

Ms. Jenny’s previous positions include Director of Airline Business and Operations Analysis for US Airways, and Technical Director at The MITRE Corporation. She also served as co-chairperson of the government/industry RTCA Free Flight Select Committee.

Ms. Jenny holds an A.B. degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, and an M.S. degree from American University, Washington, DC. She has served on numerous boards and advisory committees and currently serves on the National Academy of Sciences, National Transportation Research Board Committee on Airfield and Airspace Capacity and Delay. She has received numerous awards, including the Aviation Week and Space Technology Laurel, 1997, and the Recognition Award from the FAA Director of Air Traffic Services, 1996.

Richard (Rich) A. Eisenhart is Vice President of Government Systems Engineering for Rockwell Collins. Eisenhart provides leadership for an engineering organization of over 2,800 employees responsible for the design and development of communications and aviation electronic solutions for government customers. He was named to the position in October 2004.

Eisenhart’s organization is responsible for the development of airborne and surface solutions that provide enhanced capabilities such as joint interoperability, precision guidance, and situational awareness.  The government business is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and has technical staff located across the United States and at 6 international locations.

Eisenhart joined the company in 1986 and has held positions of increasing responsibility.  In his prior role, Eisenhart served as Senior Director of Integrated Applications Engineering where he was responsible for advanced cockpit and mission systems integration across fixed wing and rotary wing special mission, tanker, and transport platforms.  He led the efforts to develop the Rockwell Collins Flight2TM avionics integrated managermnet system that had been integarted into multiple fixed and rotary wing platforms.  His efforts addressed the need for an affordable approach to life cycle cost management for an avionics system through the utilitization of product line development methodolgies and application of open stardards to the system, hardware, and software elements of the avionics system.

Prior to joining Rockwell Collins he worked at Hughes Aircraft Company in Fullerton, California where he managed the development of situational displays for naval applications.  Prior to Hughes Aircraft Company, Eisenhart worked at Westinghouse Defense in Baltimore, Maryland on the development of RADAR applications for airborne and ground platforms.  Eisenhart holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Don Morrow joined GE Aviation Systems (formerly Smiths Aerospace) in June 2006 and was appointed Vice President of Platform Computing Systems – Digital Systems. Platform Computing Systems is comprised of the Computing Environments product line and the Platform Systems Integration group. These business segments address both military and civil markets providing computing infrastructure and platform level system integration in fixed wing, rotorcraft, shipboard, UAV and ground-base systems.

Prior to joining GE Aviation Systems, Morrow was Director of Boeing Business Development and Customer Management for Honeywell Air Transport in Phoenix, Arizona, accountable for the overall customer relationship and short and long-term growth of Honeywell’s Boeing business.

His prior roles at Honeywell included management of all Boeing 737/47/57/67 programs including the Boeing 777 AIMS development, Director of Honeywell Aerospace CNS/ATM activities and Director of Products and Technology for Avient Technologies, a start-up business focused on developing solutions for airline schedule reliability problems.

Prior to joining Honeywell, Morrow was a systems engineering manager for Smith Industries in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was responsible for system development of the Boeing 737 Flight Management System.

Morrow has a Bachelor of Science Degree in engineering science and a PhD (ABD) in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia.

Mr. John J. Nikolai is the Director of Tactical Avionics for Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems. He is responsible for leading the company’s efforts on the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Core Processor, F-16 Block 60 Advanced Mission Computer, and other space and munitions processing applications.

Prior to his current assignment, Nikolai led the Maritime Surveillance market area within Tactical Systems, which provides airborne surveillance including the P-3C platform for the U.S. Navy and international customers, as well as the Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance mission systems for the U.S. Coast Guard.  

Prior joining MS2 in November 2005, Nikolai was the director of Terminal Surface, and CNS programs for Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Systems in Rockville, Md.  He was responsible for leading the development of the FAA’s Common Automated Radar Terminal System and the Geostationary Communication and Control Segment, which provides the signal in space for the Wide Area Augmentation System.  These capabilities are used by the Air Traffic Controllers to control and separate airplanes at the FAA's largest terminal control facilities.  He also set in motion the technical solution for the country’s first private sector Registered Traveler Program.

Nikolai is a certified Level III Program Manager and holds B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota and M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas.